By Christopher Crone
Thursday nights at Goldfield usually get interesting, but this one felt like somebody tossed a lit firecracker into a VHS copy of Suburbia and hit fast forward. Goldfield has hosted plenty of loud and chaotic nights over the years, but this show hit that strange, sweet spot where the weird, the loud, and the unexpectedly entertaining all came together perfectly. Not exactly my usual metal or hardcore assignment either, which honestly made the night even more fun.
Sacramento’s own Mental Hellth set the whole thing on fire first — rolling in with an unhinged set list I had to photograph off Sage’s arm just to decode later. Tony hit me back fast with the translations: they opened with NA (Nicotine Addict), coasted into Brake, tore through Coke no ICE, Spit It Out, and closed with CCC (Couch Cushion Currency). Their mix of hardcore aggression and punk attitude hit like a runaway shopping cart loaded with bricks rolling downhill at Walmart. Even while people were still making their way inside, they managed to pull the crowd toward the stage early, which says a lot for an opening band on a Thursday night. The energy was immediate and set the tone for everything that followed.
Human Issue came out swinging, literally. Two vocalists trading lines, bouncing off each other, and covering every square foot of the stage like they were trying to outrun the lighting rig. The dual‑vocal attack gave the set a frantic, tag‑team momentum that kept the pit wide and restless. Their sound leaned heavily into gritty street punk and classic hardcore with zero polish and zero interest in pretending otherwise. Just raw energy, sweat, and volume. The crowd response kept growing throughout the set, and by this point security already looked like they knew what the rest of the night was going to turn into.
Then things got weird. Spaceman Bob weird. And somehow it worked perfectly. Their set mixed humor, crowd interaction, and total chaos in a way that never felt forced. One minute people were laughing, the next minute the pit was going off again, and somehow everybody seemed completely locked into it. I walked into the set not really knowing what to expect and walked out later with “F*ck ICE” stuck in my head whether I wanted it there or not. The entire performance felt bizarre, funny, chaotic, and oddly catchy all at once. Honestly, one of the more unexpectedly entertaining sets I’ve seen in a while.
The second Leftöver Crack hit the stage, the room completely changed. I’ve covered a lot of shows at Goldfield over the years, metal, punk, hardcore, deathcore, all of it, and this was easily one of the strangest and most unpredictable crowds I’ve seen there in a long time. The floor instantly erupted. Bodies flying everywhere, nonstop movement in the pit, drinks launching through the air, and fans screaming every lyric back at the band like their lives depended on it.
Their blend of punk, ska, crust, and complete musical chaos still somehow works live. Honestly, it feels like the songs are held together with duct tape, caffeine, and bad decisions, but that unpredictability is exactly what makes it fun. What surprised me most was how much I ended up getting pulled into the set myself. This normally wouldn’t be my lane musically, but somewhere in the middle of all the chaos, I realized I was fully invested in what was happening. The band had the crowd completely locked in from start to finish.
Goldfield delivered another memorable Thursday night, and every band on the bill brought something different to the table. Nights like this are exactly why underground music scenes continue to survive, loud, sweaty, unpredictable, and built more around community and energy than perfection.Special thanks to the staff at Goldfield Trading Post for keeping everything running smoothly throughout the night, and to all the bands for bringing the kind of energy that reminds people why live music still matters.
Categories: Concert Photography, Leftöver Crack, Reviews
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